//------------------------------// // Act 1 | Flight of Fancy // Story: Daughter of the First Reign // by LegionPothIX //------------------------------// There are a lot of ways to travel, including magical teleportation, but no one could recommend ripping through space on a whim using a five year old astral trail... let alone if a filly is in "control" of the spell required to do so. Spacial magic was one of the greater echelons of spells that a unicorn could learn. Distance, positioning, and number of subjects are all complicated variables to consider when bending the fabric of reality. Variables that didn't even cross through the mind of this particular practitioner who simply pulled open a seam and let it suck them through. A flash of white light preceded the materialization of the Queen and the filly, both in midair, and both out of their original positions. Treeling crashed to the ground as the Queen spread her wings and glided gracefully to a stop. A crippling pain swiftly washed over her which stripped away all facades of regality. In this dank cave there were just two women, one holding the mane of the other as she vomited, all the while chewing on the beads in her up-do. "How–" With nothing left to spew the Queen's words were interrupted by dry heaves, "Uhg. How can you–" After several hacking coughs she was finally able to get the rest of the statement out as the filly sniffed around the cave. "How can you act like that was nothing?" she managed to ask. With a flick of her mane Treeling dashed out three lines on her tablet and spun it around her neck over her left shoulder. It was a simple arrow that redirected the attention to the mark on her flank. The Queen was confused. Being royalty she was no stranger to teleportation, even though she had no horn to show for the experience, but this one was different. The verge broke them down to a transpacific state. Rather than simply moving through space, they moved through all the mater on their path and she could feel every ounce of it. That hadn't even been the worst of it. Passing through her own city's shield had been beyond excruciating. "Didn't it hurt you at all?" she asked Treeling whom after giving her the full attention that a filly could muster, simply shrugged and shook her head. "Not at all?" the Queen asked again as her stomach started to settle. With another hair flip the filly etched out an additional two lines on her board causing the arrow to get bolder and the slate fell back over her shoulder still pointing at her flank. Having had her task interrupted by the incessant questioning of the Crystal Queen the filly stopped sniffing about the cave to break it down to the clueless mare. Out of habit she wiped the board on her face, which caused a large amounts of makeup to smudge off, revealing a hint at the amount of brutality her life had shown her. The Queen gasped as the filly struggled out of her dress before using it to rub the rest of her makeup off her face, and board, so that the answer could sketched out. "What... happened to your face?" the Queen asked. The filly cautiously tapped her hooves to her face to see was meant by the question. With no apparent difference she shrugged and went back to her sketch. Once complete she slid the board over to the Queen for her to "read" while she rooted deeper through the cave. On the board two pictures of the city's shield could be seen, both had two stick-figures, one for each pony. The first shown a break in the barrier with a circle connecting the circuit so that the filly could pass through safely while the Crystal Queen passed without such protection. The filly in this picture was very happy and the Queen was very sad. The other showed the Queen in the bubble with the filly and their emotions were reversed. "You– did you do that on purpose?" she stammered at the audacious child who had just marenapped her. Treeling looked back only long enough to produce her jack-knifed grin and nod. "Do you know who I am, child?" the Queen indignantly questioned. Treeling nodded again as she retrieved her board. She drew the rest of the city's shield-circle complete with a replication of the castle in the center. Then far on the outside she drew two Xs of equal size and tapped them insultingly. "Not where. Who," the Queen repeated her question. Treeling pointed to the Queen with her chalk and only after it was apparent that the Queen was following along did she continue. She tapped the castle on the board while nodding to the Queen, who nodded back, "That's right I'm the–" the Queen began only to see Treeling shake her head and tap the Xs again. "Queen of a kingdom very far away..." she said, and finished the words that felt as far away as her kingdom. With the contemplation of the implications of being ripped out of her castle and hurled across the world keeping the Queen quiet; Treeling was finally able to hone in on the scent she caught when they popped into the cave. Tugging on her sleeve the filly led the Queen out of the cave. As they walked the Crystal Queen couldn't help but notice the ethereal thread that clung to Treeling's horn. "What is that?" she asked but Treeling simply ignored her. It seemed there was something more important that she needed to see. On the approach to the exit the Queen finally caught the scent that Treeling had been made aware of the instant they touched down. "Smoke?" she asked. The filly looked back over her shoulder to give her a nod. "That's... not possible," the Queen uttered in disbelief. The filly lay down on the edge of the cliff to get a better view as she sketched the scene, as if to tell the Queen that it was quite possible, though something more sinister lie at the root of her motives. From where they stood on one of the rocky ridges of the Crystal Mountains a great expanse opened up before them. They could see clear across the war-wracked plains to Canterlot Mountain; where the would-be capital was being founded as a refugee colony. Between them was only battle scarred landscape for as far as the eye could see. "The Celestial Sisters... I should have listened to them!" There was only regret in her voice. She turned to the filly who had been busily drawing the answer to the inevitable question: "Why did you bring me here?" Treeling happily presented her the slate with the six panel comic. The first was of Discord's finger snap; brightly lit by a great deal of white chalk symbolizing the flash of light. The second was the same picture she had drawn in the cave, only smaller, now with the Xs connected to the city by a single back-and-forth arrow. The third was of the young pegasus filly—with a crown—popping into existence in the cave. The fourth was of the royal filly walking out of the cave while trailing strands of magic back to a rift in space. The fifth was of a wafting scent in the cave that stick-figure Treeling was running around tracking just as she had done earlier. The sixth panel showed the pegasus gliding off the cliff into the black unknown. The Queen interpreted the story aloud to the filly to make sure that she correctly understood what was trying to be said. "Discord brought her here?" The filly nodded. "You couldn't control where we went? You just followed after her?" The filly nodded twice. "Cadence may still be alive out there?" Again, the filly nodded, but this time pointed toward Canterlot Mountain. "We have to go after her!" The filly nodded once more before prodding the Queen with her horn. With the ethereal thread shared between the two, the gold shimmer of Treelings gilt once again rippled across her fur, but this time the Queen was too preoccupied to notice. After another violent tearing through space they were dumped back into the throne-room. With hope snatched away from her the Queen looked as though was going to die. "Gentleman," she whimpered after taking a moment to collect herself, "We are at war." She then turned her attention to Sombra, who was being detained by the guards, and with a flick of her wrist they released him. Color returned to her face and her eyes grew sharp as she inspected him. "Draw your sword." << Bargaining Power | Hell Forged >>